All right, we're gonna be preaching today on an unknown tongue, nothing mystical. The text is 1 Corinthians 14, one through five. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied. For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive edifying. Lord God, we do thank you for preserving thy holy word, God, these thousands of years later. God, without it, we would not have guidance, God. We'd not have surety. We'd not have the firm foundation that we have in your word, God. Please, God, send your spirit to us now, the one who authored those words, God, the one who's given us everlasting life, God. Help us to understand the words of the Holy Spirit as written in your Bible, Lord. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 1 Corinthians 14, which discusses speaking in an unknown tongue, is claimed by some professing believers to be referring to speaking in a heavenly or angelic tongue. It is usually claimed to be what they call a spiritual language. by which they mean mystical, something that does not have a traditional meaning of a language with distinct words, parts of speech, and grammar. This can be a private affair in which a believer supposedly edifies himself with this private prayer language that transcends or is a higher or more so-called spiritual form of communication than normal prayer that uses actual human words. They believe they are speaking mysteries to God, The heavenly tongue they are speaking in is unknown to them regarding what they are actually saying. They often call this praying in the spirit. When done publicly, promoters of this idea believe that the speaking with heavenly tongues conveys meaning by God himself revealing an interpretation of these sounds, either to the person speaking or to another person nearby. Again, the noises made are not a human language with words and grammar that can be translated. They instead believe that this language transcends the boundaries and limits of human speech and is a spiritual form of communication that occurs when God pours out His Spirit on His people. To understand what an unknown tongue is in 1 Corinthians 14, we need to first study the Bible and see the examples given of speaking in tongues. So what is a tongue? We know it's a part of our body. The Bible uses the word that way. In James 3, verse six to eight, it says, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of things in the sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." So the tongue is definitely a member that we have to watch out for in how we use it. Building off this definition, the Bible calls the languages' menus tongues. In Genesis 10, 5, it says, By these were the aisles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, everyone after his tongue. after their families in their nations. Tongue in this verse means language. We see this here also in Revelation 17 verse 15. And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the horse sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. From Genesis to Revelation, the whole Bible, the word tongues refers to languages or the body part that speaks a language. Besides the ordinary use of language, the Bible also says that speaking with tongues is a sign. In Mark 16, starting in verse 15, our Lord speaking, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Among other things, such as drinking any deadly thing, for example, without being hurt, the sign is that believers will speak with new tongues. Notice it is plural, not just one single language, but multiple new languages. This point will have some importance later. It also refers to diverse kinds of tongues as a gift that some believers can receive. 1 Corinthians 12 says, starting in verse four, now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, Again, notice it doesn't say one language that these believers are gifted with. It says diverse kinds of tongues are given to one person. Our Lord prophesied the speaking of new tongues at the very end of Mark, and we don't have to wait too long to see it start getting fulfilled. In Acts 2, let's see how this is fulfilled. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So there were a lot of disciples here, Acts 1 had just told us. They started speaking with other tongues. These were not their usual languages of Greek, or Hebrew, or Aramaic, or Latin, which many of them might have spoken. So did any of these people understand what they were saying? Well, let's continue reading. In verse 5 it says, And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven, Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? So these were devout men. These men were believers in God. They were Jews that had a good and honest heart, but they didn't understand our Lord Jesus as the Savior yet. They were amazed that these people from Galilee would somehow be able to speak their languages. So let's continue, it says in verse nine, Parthenians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. So what tongues were they speaking? They were speaking all of these languages of these countries and regions just listed. And notice they were not just speaking anything, they were speaking the wonderful works of God, the Bible says. So in verse 12, it says, and they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another, what meaneth this? They knew this was a miracle, but they didn't know yet what it meant. We'll get to that shortly. But first, there were others in this multitude also. These people were not devout. They were mockers. They were scorners. So picking it up in verse 13, it says, others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. These people were locals. They didn't speak those languages that these devout Jews from abroad did. When they heard various people talking to groups of men in these 15 or so languages, they just heard a stammering tongue. They accused them of being drunk. Had they taken careful stock of the situation and asked some of these devout men what was going on, they could have figured out the miracle that was occurring. But instead, they were just hasty, and they mocked. Peter then goes to stand up with the other eleven apostles and preaches a sermon. We won't examine this sermon now, but just look at one part of it that applies to the speaking in tongues. In Acts 2, starting in verse 16, it says, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. What these believers, men and women, were doing was the equivalent of street witnessing. They were not prophesying in the sense of foretelling future events in some miraculous way. They were speaking of the wondrous works of God, is what the Bible says. And God had miraculously gifted these believers to be able to speak in languages that they previously did not know. This is like what the woman at the well did when she told about the wondrous works of Jesus, except she did it without the miraculous ability to speak in foreign languages. In John 4, in verse 28, it says, I encourage all of you ladies, come witness in Branson when we go on Friday. It's not just for the men. Ask Sister Jackie if it blesses her. So in Acts chapter two, we have seen that speaking in tongues involved people miraculously speaking in human languages. They spoke languages that were understood by people who did not know Jesus, but were eager to learn. But some people did not understand the language, and although they witnessed that sign, they did not learn from it or receive it due to the hardness of their hearts. The next time we see tongue speaking happening, it happens in Acts chapter 10. Starting in verse 44 of Acts chapter 10, it says, Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And we commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. So in Acts chapter 10, the speaking with tongues was a supernatural sign to the Jews who had come with Peter to witness to Cornelius to prove that Gentiles can receive the gospel also, without having to first convert to Judaism, which involved getting circumcised, et cetera. The Jews did not believe this was possible. That is why it was said they were astonished when they heard the Gentiles speak with tongues. The sign of tongues was given because it is a sign for these Jews that were unbelieving in regards to the idea that Gentiles can now directly become the people of God also. They were unbelieving, but were of tender hearts. And they understood the languages these men spoke when the Holy Spirit fell on them, because they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. They understood the words. It doesn't say what language these Gentiles spoke that impressed the Jews. Maybe it was Hebrew. God had already shown to Peter that the Gentiles were being brought in. In Acts 10, 28, it says, And he said unto them, You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come into one of another nation. But God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. God showed it to Peter earlier when he gave Peter the vision of the various beasts that came down from heaven on a sheet that he told him three times to eat before pulling the sheet and the animals back into heaven uneaten. Peter explains it to these men right before the Holy Ghost falls on them, and they speak with tongues. In Acts 10 verse 34 and following, we see that it says, then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hung on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. to him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. And of course, as we just read, it continues on in verse 44. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. for they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. So pay attention to what Peter said. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. It says, also, because the gift that was already poured out on all those disciples in Acts 2 as a sign to the unbelieving Jews to believe in Jesus. It's the same sign. It's the same speaking with tongues as Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, there was no so-called angelic language that was incoherent and indistinct that needed a specially gifted interpreter of a language no one knew. In Acts 2, the people who had the Holy Spirit poured out on them spoke in languages they did not previously know and which was known by the people they spoke to. This was the same type of tongue speaking that occurred here. That is why Peter knew they received the Holy Ghost as well as they did, because the same exact thing happened to these Gentiles which happened to Peter and the rest. This was a sign to prove to Peter and his companions that God did indeed open up the gospel to the Gentiles directly and was grafting them into the nation spiritually. Peter then spread this abroad in the next chapter of Acts. In Acts 11, starting at verse 1, it says, And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest unto men uncircumcised, and did eat with them. There were Jews that had a problem with Peter eating with these Gentiles. They did not understand what happened, so Peter began to tell them. In verse four it says, but Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came even to me, upon the which, when I had fastened my eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air, and I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common. And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven." Peter doesn't tell us this part here, but in Acts 10 we read that Peter doubted what this should mean. He knew Jesus when he was with him walking on the earth, and during this time our Lord never told him he could eat unclean beasts, and our Lord never ate them himself either. But in Acts 10.17 it says, So why did God tell Peter to eat all these unclean animals? God gave him the answer of what this meant by instantly having those Gentiles show up at his door. So back in Acts chapter 11 it says, in verse 11, Notice the Spirit told him to go with these men, nothing doubting. It says nothing doubting because Peter doubted what was meant by the vision. God was going to show him what the vision meant when he went with these men. So as we continue reading in verse 12, it says, moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and thy house shall be saved. So back in Acts 10, we can see more details of this conversation. In verse 28, it says, That was the interpretation of the vision. Peter was to not doubt, but to believe that when God said to not call these beasts on the sheet common or unclean, if God cleansed them, that Peter should not believe these Gentiles were common or unclean, as God was now cleansing them. Going down a little further in Acts 10, Peter then sheds more light on this in verse 34. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." So Peter now knew what the vision meant. So if we go back to Acts chapter 11 and start in verse 15, it says, And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. So we now see that the apostles and brethren in Judea now heard and believed the testimony of Peter regarding how these Gentiles were now given the Holy Ghost also. They are grafted among the branches of Israel, of which some were removed, like Paul says in Romans. In Romans 11, 17 it says, And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. This controversy of Gentiles being allowed in without converting to Judaism was not completely quelled yet, as the Council of Acts 15 did not happen yet. But it's important to understand this. Gentiles got the Holy Spirit also. and it was proven by tongue speaking, which, like in Acts chapter 2, consisted of people being able to supernaturally speak languages of men which they did not previously know. And these languages were understood by those around them that spoke the languages. But before we continue with the tongue study, we're going to take a slight diversion to explain what we just read about that vision of the unclean beasts being made clean. That vision of the creatures that God said to eat, that did not remove the concept of uncleanness in diet. We know this in part because in Acts 15 at the council where this issue was resolved, it was mentioned that Gentiles still should not eat blood. But let's look at another aspect of this. God described to his people in Leviticus how to determine the difference between clean and unclean animals. He didn't suddenly declare them unclean or clean at that time when the law of Moses was given. He just revealed the procedure for determining clean and unclean animals very specifically. We know that the distinction between clean and unclean creatures already existed way before Moses, in Noah's time, from the time when men were first specifically told that they could eat flesh, and not just every green herb as they were previously instructed to eat. We can see that in Genesis 7. It says in verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female, and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and female, of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth, 40 days and 40 nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. You know, it goes on to say, Noah went in and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him into the ark because of the waters of the flood, of clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls and of everything that creepeth upon the earth. There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. So the idea of unclean beasts was already present before the Law of Moses. We also know that it's going to be present when the Lord comes back. When we read in Isaiah 66, 15-17, it says, And with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh. And the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. So do you see what it just said? This is prophetic. It's talking about the future. When the Lord comes back, he talks about some idolaters that are trying to purify themselves behind one tree. And notice that when he destroys them, they'll be eating pig and mouse and something else that he simply refers to as the abomination. We see in Leviticus that mice are unclean. Leviticus 11, 29 says, these also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth, the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. We also see that unclean is synonymous with that word abomination. In Leviticus 11 again, in verse 41, it says, And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat, for they are an abomination. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. So before the law, from the very beginning, when men first started eating animals in the times of Noah, there were animals that were unclean. And at the end, when the Lord comes back, he says that he will destroy someone who happens to be eating something God says is an abomination and that is unclean. Did God make these unclean animals suddenly clean in the Book of Acts, and at some later arbitrary time is going to make them unclean again? No. It's still an abomination to eat those disgusting animals today. It doesn't matter if your culture, like in the streets of Southeast Asia, serves palmetto bugs and scorpions as a street food. They're still unclean. They were not made by God to be eaten. Of everyone I know who claims God did away with the dietary laws of Leviticus 11, no one I know would eat a mouse. But even if they thought that it was acceptable if it was served to them in some foreign country perhaps, I wonder how many would really think the whole dietary law was somehow overthrown. Consider what comes right after that part about the mouse. In Leviticus 11, 29 it says, again, These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth, the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and his mole. These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead shall be unclean until the even. So a dead mouse, among other things listed here, is unclean. But listen to this part in verse 32 and following, it says, When they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean, whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack. Whatsoever vessel it will be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even, so it shall be cleansed. And every earthen vessel, wherein any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean, and ye shall break it. And in verse 34 it says, of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean. And all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean. Leviticus 11 teaches us that if a dead mouse falls in your pitcher of water, you can't drink the water. It's unclean. Why? I thought some people say that Peter's vision of the beasts on the sheet taught us that God did away with the dietary laws. The fact is that a dead mouse in your water still is gross. It's abominable. God did not change that. If any of you somehow found a dead mouse in your water glass, would you just pick it out and keep drinking while claiming that the Levitical code of not drinking water that has dead mice in it is no longer in force? Or would you instead understand that God did not in the New Testament make water with dead mice in it clean and use your common sense and go get a new clean cup of water? These things were unclean before the law of Moses, will be unclean in the future, and are unclean today. That vision of Peter's did not overthrow God's prohibition on eating abominable stuff any more than murdering one's son was justified by God telling Abraham to do it. God told Abraham to kill his son Isaac. God stopped Abraham from killing him and showed him that God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering. He was making a point, not giving us guidance that it was suddenly okay to murder our children, contrary to thou shalt not kill. Similarly, God showed Peter a vision where he told him to kill and eat unclean animals. But like with Abraham, he removed the sheep before Peter could actually kill and eat any of these unclean animals. The point of the vision was that the Gentiles are no longer to be considered unclean. They can become part of God's people without becoming circumcised Jews. If there's still any doubt about whether we should be eating or drinking unclean things, we see that the apostle Paul still uses the analogy of unclean things in 2 Corinthians 6. Starting in verse 14, he says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Notice that in this context, Paul is telling believers to separate from unbelievers. Not Jews from Gentiles, but believers from these idolatrous unbelievers. And in the Old Testament reference, he uses the same analogy that once applied to the Gentile Babylonians that had captured Israel long ago. In Isaiah 52, it says, Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. God is telling Israel that their captivity in Babylon will be over. Notice he calls them uncircumcised and unclean. That is what a Gentile nation is. A Gentile nation is one that does not practice circumcision. They're said to be unclean. In Isaiah 52 at verse 11, it says, Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. For ye shall not go out with haste nor by flight, for the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rearward. The diet laws had a spiritual purpose. God used these disgusting creatures just disgusting in the sense of considering them as food, to show how Israel should be different from the nations around them. In Leviticus 20, it says in verse 22, you shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them that the land whither I bring you to dwell thereon spew you not out. And it goes on to say, ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean, and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine. So whereas God told the Israelites to depart from the Gentile nations because they were unclean in Isaiah 52, Paul now re-appropriates that verse that we have just read in 2 Corinthians and applies it to unbelievers. So according to the Apostle Paul, as recorded in the New Testament of our Holy Bible, the concept of unclean things that needs to be separated from still exists. It just applies now to unbelievers instead of Gentiles, who now have been grafted into the branch of our fellowship with God, with the Jews. And so the dietary laws are still in effect. They just have a different spiritual application now. We're not supposed to eat mice, swine, poison dart frogs, cockroaches, shrimp, lobster, nor drink from a cup of water that a dead mouse fell into. These inherently disgusting acts that predate the law are likened to and should remind us today that we are not to partake of any idolatrous actions or at all be yoked together unequally with unbelievers or their worldly ways. And these laws also protect us from illness, from eating or drinking things that should not be consumed. We don't have to simply rely on our natural ability to know that cockroaches are something we shouldn't eat. We have the word of God to fix us. If for instance, we have grew up our whole life eating disgusting swine and are tempted to eat it. God tells us that eating swine is like drinking a cup of water that a mouse drowned in. Just don't do it. Be free from the illness and weakness that that can cause. Don't be obsessed with food, but God did tell us to be circumspect in how we live our Christian life. He wants us to do all to the glory of God. That includes what we choose to eat or drink. We've completed that extensive diversion from our primary message, which is to understand the sign of speaking with tongues. So back to that, in Acts 2, and then in Acts 10, and then retold in Acts 11, we saw that speaking in tongues was something that was done as a sign for unbelieving Jews as the gospel was spread. Both times Peter was involved, and both times it referred to languages that were spoken that were human languages that people understood. The final time we see tongues mentioned in the book of Acts is in chapter 19. This time it involves the Apostle Paul. In Acts 19 verse 1 it says, And it came to pass, that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which had come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about 12. This was further confirmation that God had opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles. There are not many details in this passage, They were baptized and received the Holy Ghost like in the previous examples. They spoke with tongues and prophesied just like they did in Acts chapter 2 and was predicted in Joel. This prophesying was speaking about the wondrous works of God in languages that they previously had not known. There's no reason to think that their speaking with tongues is different than the previous mentions in Acts. This is all the tongue speaking we see in Acts. There were no example in the Book of Acts of anyone speaking in some kind of ecstatic, so-called heavenly language that was not understandable by some people. We have only seen human languages being spoken. There are no examples in the Gospels of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ever praying or speaking words that would sound like gibberish and less miraculously interpreted. There are no examples of the disciples or Old Testament prophets speaking like this. Promoters of this doctrine would likely claim this is because the Spirit was not poured out until Pentecost. But again, even after Pentecost, we have not seen any evidence of this mystical, so-called tongue speaking. So let's look at the only place we have not looked at yet that mentions speaking in tongues, which is 1 Corinthians 14, and a verse in 13. We'll walk through this, explaining it as we go. So 1 Corinthians 14. Starting in verse one, it says, We need to break down what we just read in the second verse. First, what is an unknown tongue? Notice it says an unknown tongue, not the unknown tongue. Why is this important? And why, again, does 1 Corinthians 12, 20 say regarding gifts to another is given, quote, diverse kinds of tongues. The gifts it is referring to are gifts of speaking human tongues, not some supposed tongue of angels. Every time we see angels speaking in the Bible, they are speaking human tongues as they speak to humans. The only hint that there could possibly be a tongue that angels speak that is not human is in 1 Corinthians 13, 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. This is very limited evidence for an angelic language that is not just Hebrew, for example. But assuming there is one, there is only going to be one. The only reason why men have so many languages today is because God divided the languages of men at the Tower of Babel. The heavenly angels, if they somehow have their own language, have not sinned, and thus did not get their languages confounded. That means at best, there's one heavenly language. But the gift of diverse kinds of tongues. There is no gift to speak in a singular angelic tongue, even if one exists. And what would make anyone think that this angelic tongue, if it existed, would not consist of words, grammar, and syntax, just like any other language? The confusion arises, I think, because of a misunderstanding of the word spirit and the idea of speaking in mysteries. So let's look at verse 2 again of 1 Corinthians 14. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. The tongue is unknown because no man he is speaking to understands it. It is unknown to the hearer, not unknown to the speaker. The speaker understands what he is saying. He has been gifted with the ability to speak in the language and knows what he is saying. It says he is speaking to God because no one else knows the language but him and God. When it says He is speaking in the Spirit, it is important to understand that the Spirit is not some mystical part of us that worships God in an unfathomable way. Our Spirit, broadly speaking, is just our inner man, as opposed to our body. We see this in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We have a flesh and we have a spirit. The spirit that is our inner man can be further broken down into soul and spirit. We see this in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, where it says, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And just like our joint and marrow are closely intertwined in our body, our soul and spirit are also closely intertwined, but they're still distinct. In Hebrews 4.12, it says, Our soul is more the realm of our emotion, The spirit, though, that is where we think. It is often synonymous with our mind. Consider just a few of many verses that prove this. In Job 32, verse eight, it says, Notice the spirit in man was given understanding by God. Our spirit understands things. We understand things with our mind. They are synonymous here. In Job 20, verse 1 through 3, it says, Did you see how Zophar said his thoughts caused him to answer, and then he says his spirit of understanding caused him to answer? His thoughts and spirit of understanding are synonyms. In Psalms 106.32, it says, Notice, Moses' spirit, when provoked, caused him to speak words with his lips. Your spirit can think and form words that it wants to say, because it's your mind. In Proverbs 1.23 it says, When God pours out His Spirit, He makes known His words. We understand God's words with our mind. He is making known actual words to us, not some mystical feeling or weird noises. In Isaiah 59 verse 21, it says, As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed seeds, saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. So when God, according to this passage, puts his spirit on us, he gives us words, not nonsense noises. In Isaiah 61.1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good things unto the meek. He has set me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Isaiah 61.1 is a prophecy of our Lord and Savior. When the Spirit was upon Him, He preached. He preached to people in human languages using intelligible words. In John 6.63 it says, "...it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Words, understandable, intelligible words that you understand with your mind. These words are said to be spirit in John 6.63. So look at verse two again of 1 Corinthians 14. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. He's speaking to God in a language only him and God know, because there's no one else there that speaks the language. He's speaking to God in his spirit, that is, with the understanding of his mind. He's not in darkness, not knowing what he's saying. Why then does it say he speaketh mysteries? Doesn't that mean he doesn't understand what he's saying? No, that's not how that word is used in the Bible. Speaking in mysteries doesn't mean you don't understand something. It means you are revealing or discussing something previously hidden. Look at example after example of how mysteries in the Bible are known to believers. In Matthew 13, 11, it says, talking about our Lord, He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. So disciples know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. In Romans 11, 25, he says, Paul just spoke a mystery. It was something he already knew before he wrote it down in Romans. In 1 Corinthians 4, verse 1, the same book we're reading from, Paul's a steward of the mysteries. That means he has them. When he speaks mysteries, it doesn't mean he is saying something he doesn't know. It means he is revealing something he does know. In 1 Corinthians 15, 51, it says, So Paul is explaining a mystery here. I can go on and on. Search the Scriptures yourself and see. The people in the Bible speaking mysteries are speaking things they already themselves know. So again, back to that verse, verse 2. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. This man is not speaking gibberish noises in some mystical spirit of his as a heavenly form of communication with God, wherein he does not know what he is saying. He is instead speaking to God in a language that no one in the church knows. It could have been given to him miraculously in Acts 2. He could be speaking Cretan, which no one else present knows. But because no one understands him, he is only speaking to God. His spirit is speaking to God because the spirit is the part of man that reasons and thinks, and it's the ability to speak words. The man knows what he is saying. He is speaking mysteries, because that is what believers do. They speak mysteries because they're the stewards of mysteries. The mysteries we and they speak are things that were once hidden, but that we now understand. So again, this unknown tongue is only unknown to the hearers, not unknown to the speaker. He's not speaking gibberish and calling it the heavenly tongue. He's speaking a real language. Let's continue on and see that this is true. So in 1 Corinthians 14, starting in two again, For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men the edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he that prophesieth edifyeth the church. When someone prophesies, it can mean just preaching. It does not always mean supernatural foretelling of the future. Here, we see it mentions exhortation and comfort. Prophesying, that is preaching, obviously edifies because people understand it. So why does it say that he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself? What does it mean to edify yourself? How does one go about it? Edifying oneself is not done by speaking in an incoherent, so-called ecstatic language. Edification, whether of ourselves or others, is done through words that can be understood. Edification means to build up. We see it in the word edifice, which in Webster's 1828 says, a building, a structure, a fabric, but appropriately a large or splendid building. The word is not applied to a mean building, but the temples, churches, or elegant mansion houses, and the other great structures. Jude tells us to build ourselves up on our holy faith, which as Paul says, this faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Jude says we must build ourselves up ourselves on this faith while praying in the Holy Ghost to keep ourselves in the love of God. And we do it by remembering the words of God. Jude says in verse 17, but beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life. So regarding this praying in the Holy Ghost, is it some speech that sounds like incoherent nonsense to us, but is really an unknown angelic language? Does that build us up? That's what a lot of Pentecostals say, but the Bible says in Acts, the word of God is what builds us up. In Acts 20 verse 32, and now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Every Christian who has ever lifted up a psalm and prayed it personally, for himself or others, is praying in the Spirit and is lifting himself up. Every prayer that's recorded in our Bible is now part of the Word of God. Every prayer recorded in the Bible was prayed with words understood by the speaker. A man speaking the words of God, whether in prayer or even preaching to himself, builds himself up, he encourages himself. If no one else was present, or if no one else understood what he was saying, he would still edify himself. David edified himself in prayer. He spoke to himself and to God. He was obviously praying in the spirit as the Lord chose to make this prayer part of the Bible. In Psalms 43, one through five, it says, Judge me, O God, and please plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man, for thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. When David prayed in the Spirit, right there, he understood what he was saying. Who in the Bible prays and edifies himself by speaking words that sound like ridiculous or even satanic gibberish? And just in case, for some reason, you're tempted to try to say Psalms are songs, but not really prayers, notice at the conclusion of Psalm 72, verse 20, it says, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. This tells us that this section of Psalms was written by David, and they were prayers. Every one of them was a perfect God-inspired example of David praying in the Holy Spirit, and none of them involved incoherent babbling. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 5 says, So look at what we're seeing. Speaking with tongues, if they are unknown to the hearers, will not edify the church. because you need to understand words to be edified by them. So if you speak in a language that no one or not everyone understands, you need to make sure you interpret it for them, because a language they don't know has no meaning. They won't be edified. Whether it's the listeners or yourself, there is no edification without understanding. That is why this must be referring to human languages that are unknown to the hearers. If it was some heavenly language unknown to the speaker, it would not edify him any more than would any other language that he doesn't understand. I'm not going to continue going through 1 Corinthians 14 at this point. As with the length of this, I might be losing your attention. In part two, If I get a chance to preach one? If the Lord doesn't come back before then? If I don't die before then? If we aren't all gone before then? We'll finish up the verse-by-verse 1 Corinthians 14. We'll explain in greater detail how tongues are a sign for unbelievers. looking at the Old Testament reference given, and showing more that this chapter cannot be referring to some kind of ecstatic tongue speaking. We'll explain what interpretation of tongues means using the handwriting on the wall that Daniel interpreted to give us light. We will explain why someone would need to pray to interpret their own tongue they were speaking, and how they might not be able to just easily interpret it, even though they already understood what they were speaking. We will show how tongue speaking, as Pentecostals define it, are dangerous, delusional, and devilish. We will show that although the gift of tongues was supernatural in the past, God can still give that gift in non-miraculous ways also. But to sum up today's message, speaking with tongues in the Bible involves a supernatural gift to speak in languages that were not previously known to the speaker. In all cases throughout Acts, these were human languages spoken that were understood by men, and an unknown tongue is one the hearers do not understand, but is understood by the speaker. Lord God, we thank you for thy word, God, Please help us to understand it clearly. Thank you for giving it to us clearly, God. Please now just bless all of us the rest of this day. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.